Feature KRNU Hosts Nine-Hour Benefit Show | Concert Preview

KRNU Hosts Nine-Hour Benefit Show | Concert Preview

As a former host of Lost and Found —90.3 KRNU's local music show — Max Holmquist might be biased. He might also be a little hyperbolic as he says, “When I turn on the radio, pretty much everything I hear is garbage, but KRNU plays good music and are constantly striving to discover more.”

One way to do more is to take music from the FM dial and bring it to a benefit concert. With nearly nine hours of local bands, including Holmquist's Great American Desert solo act, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln radio station will invite all kinds of people and genres to come to Duffy's Tavern on Saturday starting at 5:30 p.m.

“We want to raise money to be more active in the community,” says Joe Teplitsky, a UNL senior journalism and English major as well as KRNU’s music director. “There are lots of events we want to do, but (KRNU) needs the funds to make them happen.”

The concert will be a fundraiser for KRNU. Although there is no cover charge for the show, there is a suggested donation of $5 or more.

After some commented that KRNU doesn’t focus enough on local artists, Teplitsky says the station wanted to start this concert series to help prove they do. Holmquist grew up near Lincoln, but he moved to Omaha to pursue a career as a musician.

“There’s a moment when you’re playing a song and the dynamics are pulled back from loud to silent,” Holmquist says. “The whole room is completely silent with you and all their attention is on you.”

photo by Natasha Richardson

“I don’t make it to Lincoln a ton to play shows anymore," Holmquist says, "so it’s nice to get back and play for a crowd that I know from the past six years of performing."

Kelsey Haugen is an intern for Hear Nebraska. She hopes that the amount of talent each group has is directly related to how strange their band name is. Reach her at kelseyh@hearnebraska.org.